HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1978-02-23, Page 1NO, 8
FIRST. WITH LOCAL NEWS
THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 23,
4Y.
SCHOOL STRUCK AGAIN — Members of the Ontario Secondary School Teacher's Federa-
tion once again forced cancellation of classes at South Huron District High School in Exeter as
teachers continued their rotating walkouts. Willard Long resorted to a somewhat different
manner of showing his displeasure with the stalemated negotiations. Peter Aunger
(background) and Keith Crawford were among the many teachers who picketed, Tuesday
morning.
Good financial shape
Acquire new residence
At the annual meeting of
the South Huron District
Association for the Mentally
Retarded held Wednesday
evening in Dashwood, it was
announced - that a new
residence for the learning
handicapped will be es-
tablished in Exeter.
Residence's Committee
chairman Alma Godbolt an-
nounced that Harry Klungel
of Hensall had purchased
the home at 16 John Street in
Exeter and will be renting it
back to the Association for
use by the Association.
The new home which is
one block away from the
James Street residence that
has been operational since
1975, will have room for nine
permanent residents and
one bed will be available for
temporary accommodation.
50 per cent of the residents
will be from the immediate
area.
Operation of the residence
should start in April. •
"1977 was an exciting year
for us," chairman of the
Adult Rehabilitation Centre
(ARC) Roland McCaffrey
reported. 50 employees are
involved in the eight
programs which ARC offers.
McCaffrey reported that
sales from the goods which
ARC produces Went up from
$16,000 in 1976 to $53,000 in
1977. It's expected that sales
for 1978 will top $75,000. The
Power out
for one hour
Homes in Dashwood,_
Zurich, Grand Bend and
parts of Stephen and Hay
townships were without
electricity for morethan an
hour Saturday night after a
high tension feeder line
snapped near Dashwood.
The feeder line came down
on sideroad 20, one mile west
of County Road 11.
It is believed the line
snapped due to a sudden
change in temperature.
increased production has
resulted in increased
stamina on behalf of the
employees and a correspon-
ding increase in the pride
which they take in their
work, the chairman
reported. 14 employees in
the woodworking program
should be ready to take out-
side jobs at the end of the
year.
The need to graduate
more employees into the
community and the breaking
down of prejudice by
employers against the lear-
ning handicapped, were
cited by McCaffrey as two
areas where work remains
to be done.
Progress is being made,
the Exeter resident said as
he announced that two of
ARC's bakeshop employees
will be employed in an area
bakeshop during the
summer.
A new program aimed at
the prevention of mental il-
ness will commence this
year under prevention com-
mittee chairman Pat
Wright. The aim of the new
group will be to develop a
system of delivering infor-
mation to the public about
the prevention of mental ill-
lness and to get the support
of family physicians and
public health authorities in
the spreading of information
about mental illness. Mrs.
Wright said "This is a long
range goal; we don't expect
to see any major results in
six months or a year."
Finance committee chair-
man Anne Klungel reported
that the Association is in ex-
cellent financial shape with
donations; up considerably
and a $9,000 reduction in the
workshop's mortgage due to
grants from the counties of
Huron and Lambton.
Similar good news came
from Donna Greb who head-
ed last year's Flower's of
Hope campaign. $8,500 was
raised, up $300 from the 1976
total. "This proves that this
year, there has been an in-
creasing interest in the han-
dicapped," Ms. Greb
remarked.
A program designed to
teach living skills will be
starting in mid 1978 ex-
ecutive director of the
Association Don Campbell
told the meeting. The
program will be totally fund-
ed by the ministry of com-
munity and social services
and will result in the hiring
of two more instructors.
There is the need for the
development of an apart-
ment living project at some
future time, Campbell
stated, as today's world
moves away from the
traditional single family
dwelling.
"We feel that we're part
of the school" stated
Please turn to Page 2(
Price Per Copy 20 Cents
Teacher lockout possible
By JEFF SEDDON
The Huron County Board
of Education set the stage for
a lockout of its secondary
school teachers at a special
board meeting Monday
night. The board met ac-
cording to provincial
regulations to hear the final
offer by the teachers in a
public session.
The meeting is a formality
the board must go through if
it wants to exercise its option
of locking teachers out of the
schools. If that course is
taken by the board it must
now call a special meeting to
vote on the lockout and if the
vote is in favor of closing
schools, the classes will be
cancelled in all five county
secondary schools until the
strike issue is settled or the
board chooses to re open the
schools.
A mixture of parents and
teachers witnessed the short
board meeting while about
200 secondary school
teachers walked the streets
surrounding the board of-
fices in Clinton. The teachers
picketed the administrative
offices to , according to
teacher negotiater Shirley
Weary, "make a point to the
board".
Weary said she wasn't
convinced the board was not
trying to "threaten" the
teachers with the lockout.
She said the teachers for-
ming the picket line were
protesting the board's stand
on the 1977 contract but
added that the two dozen
teachers at the board
meeting were there as
private citizens.
Director of education John
Cochrane told the board that
before a lockout can be
considered the public session
must be held. He said the
board must publicly review
the final offer from the
teachers and vote on its
acceptance. Should the
board reject the offer then it
is free to lockout teachers if
it so chooses.
Negotations have not been
resumed since the first
strike action was taken by
the teachers February 15.
The last formal contract
talks ended at noon
February 14 and not only
have—no meetings been
arranged, the parties can't
even decide who should take
the first step.
Weary said the teachers
made the final proposal
before taking strike action,
adding that the teacher
negotiating team expected a
call from the board instead
of hearing "no, no, no ...".
Cayley Hill, chairman of
the board's negotiating
committee, said the teachers
had better "re -think their
proposal" before assuming
the board should take the
first step toward further
contract talks. He said the
teachers know the board's
stand, adding that he hoped
teachers would reflect on the
past before refusing to
change their position.
Hill said the Huron
County board had "cut a lot
of ground" in the past to
increase teacher benefits
and working conditions. He
said the strike appeared to
exhibit a teacher attitude
that if they don't get their
way they won't teach. He
said they didn't appear to be
thinking about the past,
Hill said the board had
been brought completely up
to date in a closed session
prior to Monday night's
public meeting. He said
there was no discussion of
possible alternatives the
board could take to settle the
strike issue.
Weary said Monday night
that a suggestion by the
mediator in the contract
talks to take the issue to
arbitration was not turned
down by the teachers. She
did not say it was promoted
either.
The teacher negotiater
said she "didn't know that
the teachers objected to
arbitration" adding that
they offered to take that
route in September of 1977.
She said the teachers pointed
out that they had already
suggested arbitration, ad-
ding that it seemed a
"reasonable way out". She
said she didn't think the
teachers had any change in
that attitude.
Hill said arbitration was
something the board and the
negotiating committee
would have to reflect on and
make a decision on. He said
he personally felt the parties
should be able to make their
own decisions and not go to
an outsider to settle the
matter.
The board negotiater said
he felt the teachers should
listen to the board's offer
themselves rather than
dealing with them through
an outside group that is
conspiring to strike. He said
it is obvious who is "calling
the shots for the teachers"
adding that that persons not
from Huron County.
Parents, teachers, board
trustees and students at the
special board meeting
agreed that the people
suffering most in the strike
are the students. David St.
Jean, a grade 13 student at
Goderich District Collegiate
Institute, said he was
worried like everyone else.
St. Jean said he didn't
want to lose time in school
but also didn't want to sit in a
class with 30 students and
have the teacher not even
know his name. He said his
largest class was 26
students, pointing out that in
'a 40 -minute period the
teacher does not have time
for individual work with the
studentsand so has to treat
them all like one.
The senior student said
that what really bothers him
is that "no one is willing to
tell students what's going
on". He said that when
factory workers go on strike
nobody really cares except
the company and the
workers but when teachers
go on stri.ke "they're
fooling around with our
education."
PUBLIC SPEAKING WINNERS — Four area schools participated in a public speaking contest sponsored by the Hensall
Legion, branch 468. In the junior competition (front row, left -right) Tammy Durand of Ecole St. Marie placed second, David
Dougall of Hensall Public took the top spot and Darrel Gingerich of Zurich Public placed third. In the senior competition Jacky
Hyde of Hensall Public placed second, Jody Durand of Ecole St. Marie, first and Melanie Lovell of Hensall Public finished third.
The first place finishers advance to a zone competition that is being held next week in Goderich. Staff photo